Grandes Heures de Cluny : Mélancolie romantique

Romantic melancholy

Michiaki UENO, cello,

Patrick MESSINA, clarinet

Philippe BIANCONI, piano

Since 2022, our partnership with the Geneva International Music Competition has enabled us to welcome the prize-winners and offer them, to our great delight, a springboard to an international career.

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ROMANTIC TWILIGHT

In partnership with the Geneva International Music Competition

Three leading figures on the international music scene join forces for an exceptional evening of romanticism and musical complicity.

Michiaki UENO began studying the cello at the age of 5 in Japan. In 2015, he moved to Germany, where he continued his studies. He will become artist-in-residence at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Élisabeth in Belgium in 2021. That same year he won first prize at the Geneva Competition, and in 2024 he was awarded the prestigious Beethoven Ring in Bonn. This prize rewards a young artist who has distinguished himself in the interpretation of a work by Beethoven.

Since then, Michiaki UENO has performed regularly with renowned orchestras. He returns to the Grandes Heures Musicales de Cluny surrounded by some choice partners.

Philippe BIANCONI, the piano poet. Trained at the Nice Conservatoire, then in Paris under Gaby CASADESUS, Philippe went on to deepen his knowledge of the German and Russian repertoires. His first major recital at New York's Carnegie Hall in 1987 was a great success. Since then, he has performed in the most famous concert halls in America, Europe, Japan, China, Australia...

In 2012, his recording of Debussy's Préludes earned him a nomination at the Victoires de la Musique Classique awards. His latest recording, devoted to the complete piano works of Maurice Ravel, was hailed by critics in Le Figaro and The New York Times 2023. Philippe Bianconi teaches at the École normale de musique de Paris Alfred Cortot.

Patrick MESSINA, clarinet, began his career in the United States. In 1996 he gave a recital at Carnegie Hall in New York. A leading French clarinettist, he has won international acclaim. In great demand, he is regularly invited to perform as principal clarinet with prestigious orchestras including the Royal Concertbeuw Orchestra in Amsterdam and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as throughout Europe and Asia.

Open to world music, improvisation and contemporary creation, he also works with many jazz and traditional music artists. His critically acclaimed discography includes Kaléidoscopic and recordings devoted to Schumann and Mozart. Patrick Messina teaches at the Ecole Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot.

From Bruch's Eight Pieces to the free poetry of Schumann's Fantasiestücke, to Brahms's late masterpieces - Clarinet Sonata No. 1 and Trio Op. 114 - this concert charts a sensitive and deeply human journey through the heart of the XIXᵉ century.